The History of Men's Tennis (Open Era)

The Final

(4)Roger Federer d. (6)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga   6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3          [ 2:19 h ]           H2H: 8-3

They played against each other third straight Sunday! It was their eighth match of the season which is a new record # Actually Federer should have won it in two sets, but wasted many opportunities in the 2nd set as he led 5:3* having not faced a break point, had also a mini-match point at 5 all (Tsonga missed in that game all 10 first serves!), 5:2 in the tie-break and a match point on return – Tsonga fought it off with a forehand winner. In the 3rd set deciding was the 8th game, in which the Frenchman saved two break points but at the third one he left too much space off his right side – it allowed Federer to make a crucial break. In the following game the Swiss won four straight points with offensive attitude, smashing on match point. A moment later he reacted very emotionally, it’s his 17th consecutive win (three titles) and a record sixth ‘Masters’ title (70 ATP titles overall), surpassing Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras – both won five titles at the season-ending event. “I couldn’t be more happy. I couldn’t be more exhausted,” Federer told the crowd, “Jo sucked every last bit of energy out of me today.” Tsonga stated: “Today I fought all I can. I’m just happy tonight because I had a good week. Of course, to win is better but I gave everything. Tonight I can look [at] myself in the mirror and say, ‘Yeah, you fought enough.'” Stats of the final

Doubles results:
(3)M.Mirnyi/D.Nestor d. (8)M.Fyrstenberg/M.Matkowski 7-5, 6-3

# Eight meetings between two players within a year:

2011: Roger Federer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6-2)

Seven meetings between two players within a year:

1984: John McEnroe vs. Ivan Lendl (6-1)
1995: Michael Chang vs. Jim Courier (4-3)
2007: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (5-2)
2009: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (4-3)

Six meetings between two players within a year:

1984: John McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors (6-0)
1986: Ivan Lendl vs. Boris Becker (3-3)
1989: Boris Becker vs. Stefan Edberg (4-2)
2004: Roger Federer vs. Lleyton Hewitt (6-0)
2006: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer (4-2)
2008: Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Marin Cilic (3-3)
2008: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (4-2)
2011: Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal (6-0)

Semi-finals

(4)Roger Federer d. (5)David Ferrer                  7-5, 6-3                 [ 1:25 h ]

Federer is the worst match-up for Ferrer. The Spaniard in 12 matches against the Swiss won only 3 sets, but never was close to win a match. It’s tough to say sometimes why some players are totally supreme over the others, and I think it’s one of those H2H’s. Ferrer is good enough to beat Federer two or three times in twelve matches, but he hasn’t done yet. Maybe it’s a matter of psychological advantage, Federer won their first five matches in straight sets, before Ferrer jumped onto the higher level in tennis hierarchy, and that initial difference takes its toll regularly. Today decided the 10th game of the 1st set, Ferrer led 5:4* and was five times two points away from the set, but every time at ‘deuce’ couldn’t play the shots he usually does. Federer took the momentum by winning five consecutive games and never looked back moving to the 100th ATP final! #

(6)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (7)Tomas Berdych     6-3, 7-5              [ 1:34 h ]

I didn’t see this match because I was partying at the time 🙂 Tsonga was broken once in the 2nd set, finished the match with an ace. “Roger is the best player for the moment indoors,” Tsonga said. “It’s going to be really special here, for my first final here. It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere on court, and I like that. … I know it’s the last match (of the year) so I will give it everything.”

Doubles results:
(3)M.Mirnyi/D.Nestor d. (1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan 7-6(6), 6-4
(8)M.Fyrstenberg/M.Matkowski d.  (4)M.Bhupathi/L.Paes 6-4, 4-6, [10-6]

# Players to participate in 100 finals or more:

161 – Jimmy Connors
146 – Ivan Lendl
109 – John McEnroe
104 – Guillermo Vilas
100 – Roger Federer 

Group A – third round

(alt.)Janko Tipsarevic d. (1)Novak Djokovic           3-6, 6-3, 6-3                    [ 2:07 h ]

The stake of this match was unusual, Djokovic would have won it and didn’t qualify, he would have lost it and qualify, because he knew the last match at the group stage between Berdych and Ferrer would be crucial. In these circumstances a more eager player was the older of two Serbs, for whom it was not only a unique opportunity to beat a No. 1 in the world for the first time in career, but also to get a better check (for a multimillionaire like D’Joke, additional 120,000$ doesn’t make a significant difference). The best player of the season is visibly out of gas and suffers lack of enjoyment, he was broken twice in both losing sets, and actually only once in the entire match showed a positive emotion (it was at *3:4 ‘deuce’ in the 2nd set when he had still a decent prospect to win it in straight sets). “I had an unbelievable year,” comments Djokovic,  “Nothing can really ruin that. I will always remember this year as the best of my life. I just want to prepare well for 2012.”

(7)Tomas Berdych d.  (5)David Ferrer                      3-6, 7-5, 6-1                      [ 2:07 h ]

The Spaniard was playing almost a perfect match through a set and a half, but is he really so good to win a group in such an impressive style on his third/fourth favorite surface? He isn’t, and his dream week came to an end as he led *4:3 (40-15) in the 2nd set. He made two unforced errors then from the baseline and the momentum completely shifted – the Czech won 10 out of the next 12 games and finished the group on the first place despite a worse win/loss ratio in sets than Ferrer. Perhaps it’s good for the tournament because Djokovic, who is out of form, was five points away from advancing to the semi-finals although he suffered two defeats at the group stage. “I think I was playing good the first set, and [then in] the middle of the second maybe at 4-3, 40/15, I didn’t serve really well,” admitted Ferrer. “I served very badly and I played my shots very short. In the third set, he was playing with more confidence.”

1. Berdych 2-1… 5-3
2. Ferrer 2-1… 5-2
3. Djokovic 1-2… 3-5
4. Tipsarevic 1-1… 3-3
5. Murray 0-1… 0-2

Doubles results:
(7)J.Melzer/P.Petzschner d. (6)R.Lindstedt/H.Tecau 6-3, 6-4
(4)M.Bhupathi/L.Paes d. (1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan 6-4, 6-2

1. Bhupathi/Paes 2-1… 4-2
2. Bryan/Bryan 2-1… 4-3
3. Melzer/Petzschner 1-2… 3-4
4. Lindstedt/Tecau 1-2… 2-4